A crowd of Alabama fans clamors for Nick Saban's autograph during SEC Media Days at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover July 19, 2012. (Birmingham News/Linda Stelter)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Be honest. Who did you think Mike Slive was talking about when he read the following sentence during his opening address at SEC Media Days?

"No one program, no one person, no matter how pop­ular, no matter how suc­cessful, can be allowed to derail the soul of an institu­tion."

Wasn't it obvious? With­out naming him, the com­missioner was referring to Joe Paterno, who failed to put a stop to serial child rapist Jerry Sandusky for more than a decade at Penn State.

"Last week's headlines re­mind us," Slive said, "that we must be ever vigilant on all issues of integrity and that our primary mission is to educate and protect young people."

It's not to preserve and protect the program at any cost.

Fourteen SEC football coaches took the podium af­ter Slive from Tuesday through Thursday. Guess which one was the only one asked a specific, personal question about Slive's "no one person" statement.

Just as obviously, it was Nick Saban.

This was the question: "How do you address the perception, fair or unfair, that Alabama football and you, in particular, are too big and have too much power in relation to their in­stitution?"

This was the heart of Saban's answer: "Well, you know, it's not true if that's the percep­tion," he said. "I personally have a tremendous amount of respect for our athletic di­rector, our chancellor, Bob Witt, and the honesty and integrity that they run the program (with)."

A traditional organizational chart would say that Saban has three bosses: AD Mal Moore, new UA President Guy Bailey and Witt, the former Alabama president and new UA System chancellor.

Conventional wisdom would beg to differ. Are Moore, Bailey and Witt so powerful that security guards block the door to the bathroom after they enter, even though they're in an area restricted to professionals with credentials?

They did that for Saban on Thursday at the Wynfrey. Slive himself had walked into that same bathroom earlier. It was a bit crowded in there, but the most powerful man in college sports didn't request or receive the same privilege of privacy.

Bailey comes to Alabama from Texas Tech so it was natural to ask Tech coach Tommy Tuberville how Saban would like his new boss.

"Boss?" Tuberville said. "Nick has a boss?"

That's the perception. That Saban is so powerful, his power bolstered by two BCS titles in three years, that he answers to no one. That, like Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men," he runs his unit the way he runs his unit.

Saban disagreed, but there's no argument on another point. Factor in his gaudy record, his lengthy and lucrative contract and his hold on the fan base, a portion of which flooded the Wynfrey lobby as usual to snap his picture or score his autograph, and there's no question that Saban is the most powerful coach in college football.

His is the most powerful voice in the sport. Saban has become the go-to guy for the state media on state issues and the national media on national issues. He was asked Thursday about everything from UAB's right to have an on-campus football stadium -- he said he didn't feel qualified to have an opinion -- to Penn State and Paterno.

Saban didn't address Paterno, but he did offer the constructive suggestion that Penn State could add a ticket tax for sporting events and donate the revenue "to organizations that prevent child abuse."

Avoiding a direct reflection on the late Paterno was probably a good idea. There's already enough of a temptation to compare the two men from the standpoint of the power they've enjoyed, but gaining power and using it to protect your program by sheltering a vile criminal are two very different things.

Only Paterno stands accused on that charge.

He lost his job and his power because, as detailed in the Freeh report, he lost sight of what Slive called "our primary mission." It's a cautionary tale for a small fraternity of other powerful football coaches.

As the most prominent member of that fraternity, Saban has an opportunity -- no, a responsibility -- to not go down a similar road.